Once again I have been remiss; I have now missed three deadlines for Concept Crucible. It’s time to bust out the gumption generator, kick King Charles I to the curb, leave the studio, and get some meaning squiggles up on the internet. I have been ridiculously busy and will continue to be, but I have to get back to doing some writing that I want to do, rather than writing for the purpose of mark collection. It’s a shame too because so many of the things I am busy with are things I want to write about. One of these things was a trip that my studio class, my lady friend, and I took to Nuit Blanche in Toronto last weekend.
For those of you who don’t know about it or have never been to it Nuit Blanche is an international art event that was founded in Paris in 2001 and has spread to over 120 cities around the world, including Toronto. Loosely translated as “all nighter” the festival goes from dusk until dawn and turns the entire city centre into a gallery space featuring 112 art projects done by over 500 artists from all around the world. This was Toronto’s eighth year participating in the event with something like 1 million people visiting the event every year.
We got off the bus down on Front Street and over the next 5 hours slowly wound our way through downtown Toronto finally ending up at UofT’s Hart House. We were able to experience probably only about 40 works, a fraction of the total, but what we saw was inspiring and amazing. There were installations, performance pieces, film projects, and a parade that stretched for much of University Avenue where the floats stood still and the people flowed by. Some works transformed everyday spaces from humdrum lobbies and alleyways into vibrant cultural nodes while others were interactive allowing the passerby to become a participant. Nathan Phillips Square was transformed and packed with people swarming around and through the centrepiece of Nuit Blanche, Ai Weiwei’s Forever Bicycles, 2013 (right).
My favourite works were some that unfortunately don’t photograph well. The first was called Mariner 9 , 2012 (left) by U.K. Artist Kelly Richardson. Mariner 9 is a 12 meter long panorama of the martian landscape at some distant and unknown point in the future where the red planet is covered with discarded space junk. As you examine the work a low hum fills the air, and a blue light flashes in the distance as dust flits across the surface of this compelling and imaginary Mars. I was also excited to see Campfire (2013) by Alberta native David Hoffas. Davis was actually at UofW a few weeks ago and gave an informative talk about his work. Campfire consists of several dark human sized cutouts that have moving images of people projected upon them. In this case several figures huddled around a dancing campfire in a dark corner of Richmond Street’s Cloud Gardens. It should also be noted that the work of David Hoffas can also be seen at the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery until January 5th. If you are in the area I suggest you check it out.
Much of the art in the festival was immediately accessible but some works, like John Notten’s Shrine 2013 (right) were tucked away in side alleys and had to be sought out. Shrine is a small Gothic cathedral build entirely from garbage bins, complete with flying buttresses. The site, like any good tourist attraction was fenced off and there was even a long line of people waiting to enter the shrine and pay homage. Works like Shrine and events like Nuit Blanche do a great job of deconstructing the idea of a gallery space by encouraging passive spectators to become active participants and explorers seeking out art instead of having it merely presented to them.
The final stretch of the route we followed took us (after a fruitful digression down a crazy-busy Queen Street West) up along University Avenue and the parade. Half of the avenue was closed off to traffic and huge crowds of people thronged in both directions past dozens of floats; large scale art installations on flat bed trucks. The most memorable of these was Parallax 2013 (left) constructed by the Idea Tank Design Collective based out of Toronto. The installation consisted of a massive wall of tubes behind which shone light. From the street is was hard to see where the light came from and as you moved the tubes would constrain and control your view. This work looked particularly good when I saw it from the bus as we passed the event heading home. From that distance, and moving, the effects of the lights shining through the tubes was greatly enhanced.
Even though it was almost 3am before we finally got home, and we had walked who knows how many kilometres we were neither exhausted, bored, nor wearied, only a little tired. There was so much to see that the time just flew past. Our feet and backs hurt only after we had stopped moving. I had never been to a Nuit Blanche event before and while I hate crowds and lines I would certainly go again. I had a very good time.
I hope you all have a great thanksgiving, and enjoy your weekend!
D.
